Light room and CS3

panicattack

panicattack

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Name
Paul
Edit My Images
Yes
I have been looking at getting Lightroom but I currently have CS3. I was just wondering what, if any the benefits of having Lightroom would be, should I just stick with CS3, as it seems to me it does the same job?

Any help would be great thanks!
 
Lightroom is primarilly a cataloging tool. It just happens to be very good at editing too.
They are two very different programs for different uses.

In Lightroom you can..
Sort out all your photos in date/folder/type/shoot etc etc
Keyword your images for for ease of search when you are looking for a certain photo
Search images by lens type/focal length/camera body/date/etc etc
Batch export images, watermark images, batch correct, batch print, create slideshows, contact sheets etc etc
Quickly edit large quantities of files one by one.
Create import presets so you never even need to touch your photos if you have a usual style you process in.

Plus much much more.

I use LR and CS5. Lightroom does over 80% of the work, with CS5 just doing the very indepth editing like cloning.
 
Yes, as Tom says, but I think that underplays the editing ability. I would use Lightroom even if it did none of the cataloguing stuff.

For me, it's the intuitive ease of use and the sophisticated processing operations that go on behind those deceptively simple sliders - fast, powerful, effective. It's an Adobe Photoshop derivative product, specifically for photographers. I also like the non-destructive aspect of it's editing. Review here explains it http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/adobelightroom3/

I've not touched Photoshop since I got Lightroom a few months ago :)
 
Oh yeah, I dont mean to underplay it, like I say I pretty much all I use for editing now, I rarely use Photoshop anymore, but at its heart it is mainly a catalouging program.

It can do pretty much all Photoshop can do, but better, faster and easier, and on top of that it has one of, if not the best cataoguing systems you can buy.

If I had to buy just one of them, it would be 100% Lightroom.
 
panicattack said:
I have been looking at getting Lightroom but I currently have CS3. I was just wondering what, if any the benefits of having Lightroom would be, should I just stick with CS3, as it seems to me it does the same job?

Any help would be great thanks!
Click to expand...

CS3 (or any version of CS) allows a greater expanse of tools to be used - layers and pixel level editing in PS; cataloguing and keywording in Bridge; illustration tools in Illustrator to name a small amount. It's a very powerful set-up and even on its own, Photoshop is immensely powerful because it has so many features that can help take photographs to the next level.

However, for most people, it's an expensive piece of software that Lightroom shares the best bits with in terms of photo editing, outputting and cataloguing. LR is cheaper, is aimed specifically at photography users and not those who may want added usability in terms of illustration and design.

It's very much a case of using LR for a while to see how it can work with (or even improve) you current workflow. I moved to it a few years ago and Photoshop now plays a miniscule role in my photography - if LR features layer and path tools in future, PS will be ditched for good.
 
Thanks very much for the input! Seems like a no brainer to me, i know it is a while off but i will pop it on my Xmas list.

Thanks again, its amazing what you learn when you ask!
 
so in essence, lightroom takes the 'photography friendly' bits from Photoshop/Bridge (primarily RAW Editing and cataloguing) and ties them up in a single package with a slightly different user interface?

both pieces of software are capable of the same things, it's just down to user knowledge about how to access them?

I have CS3, and am getting more efficient with my post-production, etc. but I was wondering if Lightroom would be a sensible investment for the photography side of things?
 
benners said:
so in essence, lightroom takes the 'photography friendly' bits from Photoshop/Bridge (primarily RAW Editing and cataloguing) and ties them up in a single package with a slightly different user interface?

both pieces of software are capable of the same things, it's just down to user knowledge about how to access them?
Click to expand...

Pretty much yeah. Photoshop is slightly more advanced for real indepth editing, like cloning etc, but for everything Lightroom can pretty much match it.
I just find editing lots of files so much faster using lightroom, and not even using the batch tools, just one by one.

Download the 30 trial and see how you get on with it.
 
Lightroom has transformed my creative photography. I went from an avid Photoshop user (10+ years) to the point where I now rarely edit in Photoshop unless I am compositing images. Lightroom allows me to do 99% of my editing non-destructively.

I rarely use the cataloging capabilities but I have used tethered shooting which it is great at, and website export for mini-sites for my blog. I could go on all day about Lightroom...

Andy
 
Saw earlier that a member had posted LR3 is currently selling for £117 on Amazon, might be worth getting it now at that price
 
are there any limitations to the 30 day trial?
i think i'll definitely download it when I have some time to play with it.

I was chatting to a wedding photographer friend at the weekend, who has just transferred over to using LR3 and he says it's great, particularly for getting web-friendly galleries sorted, etc.

I'll still keep CS3 as I use Dreamweaver and InDesign regularly... but Lightroom could be a more photography/filing friendly solution to Bridge/Photoshop...
 
No limitations no, its the full program, just runs out after 30 days.
 
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